This disclosure relates to media advertising.
An advertiser, such as a business entity, can purchase airtime during a television broadcast to air television advertisements. Example television advertisements include commercials that are aired during a program break, transparent overlays that are aired during a program, and text banners that are aired during a program, product placements in a program, etc.
The cost of the airtime purchased by the advertiser varies according to the audience size and audience composition expected to be watching during the purchased airtime or closely related to the purchased airtime. The audience size and audience composition, for example, can be measured by a ratings system. Data for television ratings can, for example, be collected by viewer surveys in which viewers provide a diary of viewing habits; or by set meters that automatically collect viewing habit data and transmit the data over a wired connection, e.g., a phone line or cable line; or by digital video recorder service logs, for example. Such rating systems, however, may be inaccurate for niche programming, and typically provides only an estimate of the actual audience numbers and audience composition.
Based on the ratings estimate, airtime is offered to advertisers for a fee. Typically the advertiser must purchase the airtime well in advance of the airtime. Additionally, the advertiser and/or the television provider may not realize the true value of the airtime purchased if the ratings estimate is inaccurate. Finally, if the advertiser and/or the television provider participates in a revenue agreement based on the number of identified viewings of an advertisement, accurate data relating to the potential viewing audience during the time the advertisement aired must be obtained in order to produce a fair result.